-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- In the face of Republican opposition , the Senate confirmed President Barack Obama 's nominee to be deputy secretary of state Tuesday .

Vice President Joe Biden congratulated Tony Blinken on his confirmation .

`` Admired in every corner of the world , '' Biden said of Blinken in a tweet that included a picture of the two of them strapped inside an aircraft .

Blinken was a member of the Obama-Biden presidential transition team in 2009 and later became Obama 's deputy national security adviser .

Before his tenure with the administration , where he has become a key player on foreign policy issues , Blinken was a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington .

Opposition to the nomination

Last week , Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Marco Rubio of Florida made it clear at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that they would oppose Blinken 's nomination .

McCain condemned Blinken for being one of the `` architects '' of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq in 2011 , which McCain believes precipitated the growth of ISIS , the terrorist group that now controls parts of Iraq and Syria .

McCain pointed to statements Blinken made then that `` Iraq has never been so prosperous , so powerful , and peaceful as it is today , '' as reason enough for preventing his nomination .

Blinken `` was wrong , he was dead wrong , he made many , many statements about Iraq , and unfortunately thousands of people are dead now and parts of Iraq are now controlled by the deadly organization called ISIS , '' said McCain .

Rubio said he 's opposed to the nomination because Blinken 's answers to questions about U.S.-Cuban relations were inadequate .

`` I intend , just to be clear and on the record , to use every procedural method available to me to slow down his nomination , '' said Rubio .

Democrats disagreed . `` I fully support him , '' said Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey .

Menendez said Blinken 's statements were part and parcel of those of an official who was duty bound to advocate on behalf of that administration .

He said one may disagree with the Obama administration 's views , but `` that does n't mean that I necessarily am going to hold that nominee at the end of the day hostage to the administration 's view that I disagree with . ''

Blinken was confirmed Tuesday by a vote of 55 to 38 .

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Tony Blinken served in the Obama-Biden transitional team in 2009

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He was also a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies

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McCain , Rubio opposed nomination for different reasons